Privacy notice

This privacy notice explains how SpotterAtlas ("we", "us", "our") collects and uses personal data when you use our community mapping platform.

We process personal data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. If you use SpotterAtlas from another country after we launch additional regional sites, local privacy law may also apply.

SpotterAtlas (operated by an individual in the United Kingdom) is the data controller for account and platform data described in this notice.

Community owners may act as separate controllers for community-specific moderation records and member interactions within their community. Their community rules should explain any additional processing they carry out.

Depending on how you use SpotterAtlas, we may process:

• account details such as your email address and display name
• authentication records from magic-link sign-in
• community membership, roles, points, badges, and profile information you choose to share
• content you submit, including item titles, descriptions, photos, comments, and location coordinates
• moderation, audit, and safeguarding records where relevant
• technical logs such as IP address, browser type, and request timestamps for security and troubleshooting
• analytics data such as pages visited and search queries, but only if you consent to analytics cookies

We use personal data to:

• provide accounts, authentication, and community features
• display maps, items, leaderboards, and member profiles
• moderate content and investigate abuse or safeguarding concerns
• maintain security, prevent fraud, and improve reliability
• measure platform usage where you have consented to analytics
• comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests

We rely on contract performance to provide the service you sign up for.

We rely on legitimate interests to secure the Platform, prevent misuse, and keep essential features reliable, balanced against your rights.

We rely on consent for non-essential analytics cookies and similar technologies, including Google Analytics and our own usage statistics.

Where required, we rely on consent for optional marketing communications if we offer them.

We rely on legal obligation where we must retain or disclose information to comply with law.

We use trusted service providers to operate SpotterAtlas, such as hosting, database, email delivery, analytics, and media storage providers. They process data only on our instructions and under appropriate safeguards.

Where Google Analytics is enabled and you have consented, usage data is processed by Google Ireland Limited as our analytics provider.

We may disclose information where required by law, to protect users, or to respond to valid legal requests.

We do not sell your personal data.

Some providers may process data outside the UK or European Economic Area. Where this happens, we use appropriate safeguards such as UK adequacy regulations, EU adequacy decisions, or standard contractual clauses.

We keep personal data only for as long as needed for the purposes described in this notice, including legal, accounting, and safeguarding requirements.

When data is no longer required, we delete or anonymise it unless we must retain it by law.

Your cookie consent choice is stored for up to 12 months, after which we may ask you to confirm your preferences again.

You can delete your account from your profile page. We then remove your account credentials, email, username, and profile fields.

You can download a copy of the personal data we hold about your account at any time from your profile page under Privacy and data.

Content you contributed in communities may remain visible under a former-member label so community atlases stay complete. It is no longer attributed to your personal identity.

If you leave a single community without deleting your account, the same anonymisation applies to your contributions in that community only.

Under UK GDPR you may have the right to:

• access a copy of your personal data
• correct inaccurate data
• request erasure in certain circumstances
• restrict or object to processing in certain circumstances
• data portability where processing is based on consent or contract and automated
• withdraw consent where processing is consent-based, including analytics cookies at any time via Cookie settings in the site footer
• complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk

We group cookies and similar technologies as follows:

Strictly necessary cookies are required for the Platform to work. They include sign-in session cookies that keep you logged in and security-related cookies. These do not require consent under ePrivacy rules because the service cannot function without them.

Analytics cookies are optional. We only place them if you click Accept analytics in our cookie banner. Rejecting analytics means we do not load Google Analytics, we clear any analytics cookies already set, and we do not set our own visitor analytics cookie.

You can change your choice at any time using Cookie settings in the site footer.

• Strictly necessary: authentication session cookies (provider: SpotterAtlas / Auth.js)
• Analytics (consent required): Google Analytics 4 cookies such as _ga and _ga_* when configured (provider: Google Ireland Limited)
• Analytics (consent required): sa_vid visitor identifier for anonymised platform usage statistics (provider: SpotterAtlas)
• Strictly necessary: sa_cookie_consent stores your cookie choice so we do not ask repeatedly (provider: SpotterAtlas)

SpotterAtlas is not directed at children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal data without appropriate consent, contact us and we will take appropriate steps.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. We will publish changes on this page and update the "Last updated" date. If we make material changes to how we use cookies, we will ask for your consent again where required by law.

For privacy requests or questions about this notice: contact us via the contact page or at the address shown at the bottom of this page.